So, We're Soulmates
by LunaticFringe'sAngel-LA15
Summary: Set in S13E18. After Ketch brings a shockingly alive Gabriel to the MoL Bunker, Sam is charged with helping Gabriel settle in for the time being. The only thing throwing him off was the huge golden wings suddenly protruding from the archangel's back. After Castiel explains just how important an angel's wings are, Sam puts two and two together. "So, we're soulmates."


So, We're Soulmates (A Prequel to: I'll Keep You Safe)

A/N: Written for MarbleWolf and VegasGranny on . Thank you for all the positive comments and reviews; you guys are amazing! :) Set right around Gabriel's return, when Ketch brings him to the bunker. Some scenes altered for fluff and angst purposes. This one kind of ran away from me, so… Plot before the wing kink commences. (Should've just wrote this when the episode came out, but oh well) Set in season 13 episode 18: "Bring 'Em Back Alive." Prequel to I'll keep You Safe. Enjoy!

Sam gently removed the last of the stitches that were keeping Gabriel's mouth sewn shut. He couldn't help the stab of pain in his heart at every wince and whimper that escaped the once joyful, full of life archangel. He and Gabriel had never been super close or anything, but **no one** deserved this, to be tortured, near powerless, scared to death of anything and everything that came near them. It was a miracle Gabriel would even let him approach with the knife and scissors, much less cut the threads loose. Thankfully, after a bit of coaxing and reassuring, Gabriel had given him a hesitant nod and let him begin his work. Last stitch finally removed, Sam carefully put his tools down, dabbing at and wiping away some of the blood from Gabriel's face.

"There. All finished," Sam told him, hoping to elicit some kind of positive response. Gabriel simply stared at him, lost, curious, fearful. Something else flashed in his eyes, be it realization, recognition, Sam didn't know. Then, Gabriel was, unsteadily, on his feet. As Sam went to give him a hand, he flinched, breaking Sam's heart just a little more. "It's okay. I just want to make sure you can walk alright." Gabriel regarded him for a moment before casting his gaze downward in a silent apology. "Do you want me to show you to your room?" A pause. A nod. Careful to keep his hand close but fingertips away from Gabriel's shoulder should he need him, Sam slowly walked them towards one of the empty rooms. As he steered them farther down the hall, he noticed Gabriel had stopped a few doors back, in front of his room. Without hesitation, he opened the door and made his way inside, quickly examining his surroundings before taking refuge against the headboard of Sam's bed, knees curled into his chest.

Sam looked on at the sight in despair. There was no way he could do this by himself. Surely Cas would have more answers. Stepping outside his room, he made a quick call to the angel, briefly explaining both the Gabriel and Rift situations before receiving a confirmation that Castiel was on his way. A short time later had Castiel scolding Sam for letting Dean go off with **Ketch** of all people before he took in the state of his brother, demeanor immediately changing.

"You didn't tell me he was _this_ _ **bad**_ -" Castiel spoke quietly, voice breaking as he took in the sight of Gabriel huddled on the bed, peeking out from under his arms at the sound of his brother's voice. He was less wary around Castiel, though he seemed to know that Sam was no threat either. The offering of a vial of grace sent the archangel scrambling backwards, falling to the floor and cowering in fear, battered golden wings suddenly bursting out of his back, wrapped around him protectively. Sam reached out in an attempt to calm him, but only succeeded in nearly brushing Gabriel's wings, to which Castiel firmly grabbed his arm and yanked him from the room.

"Cas, what-?"

"Do you have any idea what you were about to do? Wings…" He sighed, reigning in his anger and overprotectiveness. "Wings are sacred, an intimate part of an angel, and only to be touched **with permission**. Touching them otherwise is considered a high offense in Heaven. It's the equivalent of violating another individual." Sam looked angry at himself, quickly scurrying off to clear his head, Castiel storming off in the other direction. Gabriel heard the exchange, eyes immediately falling on his wings as if he'd just now noticed them. He whimpered in shame at their state, golden luster long gone from lack of grooming and diminished grace, feathers burnt, bent, and occasionally bloody. He pushed himself as far into the corner as possible, visibly shaking.

Sam stopped by an hour or so later, barely in the room for a second, before leaving again. Gabriel gingerly moved one wing aside just enough to see a pile of clean clothes and shoes, much like his previous favored outfit, sitting on the bed. The gesture struck a chord in him, and, before he could convince himself otherwise, he stood and began to write his story across the walls of the room. He doubted Sam would be able to read the Enochian, but Castiel could translate it well enough. Several hours later, that indeed happened, and he refused to meet Sam's worried gaze when it was declared that he was choosing not to speak to them. He didn't think he could face those sorrowful eyes gazing into his very being asking him _why?_ Later, when it was just the two of them, Gabriel listened to Sam explain what was at stake, why they had to have his help. And then, when Sam seemed on the brink of hopelessness, he uttered _those words._

"Gabriel, _I_ need you." **I** need you, as in not just his family, not just the rest of the world. Sam needed him, and that seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. As Sam turned to leave the room, Gabriel spoke the first thing that came to mind, the first thing in Sam's mini tirade that grabbed his attention.

"Porn stars," he uttered, which made Sam freeze in his tracks and whirl around in shock. "They were porn stars, Sam," he told him, honey golden eyes flashing that signature angelic electric blue.

"Gabriel…"

"And the Winchester three magic words?" _Why don't you say the real thing, kiddo?_ Gabriel thought to himself before dismissing it from his mind.

"I-We owe you so much, our lives, the lives of everyone on the planet. I don't think we can ever pay you back for that." Gabriel cocked an eyebrow, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, legs dangling. He patted the spot next to him and, with a little insistence, Sam took the offered seat.

"Trust me, Samoose, you being here for me is payment enough. Really." Sam met his eyes, saw the sincerity, the gratitude, the… Nervousness, lingering fear. His eyes then landed on the half folded golden wings that were magnificent beyond words despite their current state. So close, yet… He remembered what he'd been told, refraining from touching them. Gabriel followed his gaze, flushing in embarrassment. "So you _can_ see them. They're…"

"Beautiful," Sam whispered at the same time as Gabriel stated, "Disappointing, underwhelming, an absolute mess-" He stopped talking to look at Sam, truly look at Sam as much as his waning powers would allow. Shining-blinding, actually-soul, no sense of ill intent or deceit, a hint of anxiety. "Wait, what? You're not… Serious are you?" The look he received in return told him Sam was deadly serious.

"Castiel told me about how sacred an angel's wings were. I'm guessing the fact that I can see them is a pretty big deal?"

"Yep. If you can see them, you can touch them, which…" The last person to touch his wings had been Lucifer, long before the Fall, when Lucifer was still consider his mega-awesome big bro he'd do anything for. The only other person besides Lucifer was good ol' God himself. "They're a part of my very being, my true form, the whole nine yards. If you ask the more traditional, high and mighty angels, they'll tell you it's " _to keep creatures, abominations, and mud-monkeys from tainting us pure and holy beings_." The last bit was spoken in a mocking tone that put a warm, gentle smile on Sam's face. Gabriel noticed the look he was getting with confusion. "What?"

"It's," Sam laughed softly in relief. "It's just good to have you back, Gabriel. It's _so_ good to have you back to being you. You had us all worried there for a while."

" _Yeeaah_. Terrified, paralyzed, and powerless aren't good lucks on me."

"No, they're not," Sam happily agreed. They observed each other for a while after that. Sam noted all the physical changes since he'd last seen Gabriel: injuries, body language, the look in his eyes. Gabriel honed in on Sam's soul, felt the pureness, heard it practically screaming at him, and he didn't realize what his wing had done until he saw Sam stiffen out of the corner of his eye. One huge golden wing had brushed some hair out of Sam's eyes, lingering barely an inch from his skin. Although the touch was fleeting, Gabriel and Sam couldn't help the shivers that ran down their spines at the contact. Rather than flinching or panicking, Sam watched the appendage in wonder, watching light bounce off the golden feathers that radiated a hidden power. "Like I said: beautiful," he reiterated softly just as the door to the room opened and a determined looking Castiel froze as he took in the scene before him.

Gabriel, once again embarrassed, apologized, saying, "Heh, sorry about that. Sometimes I think they have minds of their own."

"Gabriel," Castiel addressed him quietly, breaking from his stupor. "You're feeling better?"

"A lot, actually." He saw the vial in Castiel's hand. "That mine?" Castiel nodded, coming closer and holding it out to him. Gabriel took the vial, uncorking it and absorbing back some of his grace. It wasn't much, but it helped clear his head a little, and it was better than nothing. "Thanks, Cassie. I owe you one." It was then that Sam's phone vibrated, and when he answered the call, Gabriel felt his blood run cold in terror.

" _Samuel,_ " the voice said. Asmodeus. Gabriel felt himself slipping back into his wounded, terrified state and resisted. " _It's come to my attention you boys have something that belongs to me, and I'd like it back._ " Sam tried to play dumb, but the third-rate demon saw through the act. Sam wasn't putting up with his bullshit though. Before he could hang up, however, Asmodeus took on a threatening tone. " _Do not hang up on me! Gabriel is of no use to you in his current condition. Should you choose to resist me, I will have no choice but to take him by force. I will reduce you and that sad little bunker of yours to ashes! … You have ten minutes to decide. Now you can hang up."_ The other line went dead. A barely keeping it together Gabriel clutched at his head as he tried to get his breathing under control.

"I-I can feel him, tracking me through my grace. He might not wait the full ten minutes."

"Whether he does or not, that doesn't change the fact that we're not just going to hand you over to him, ever!" Sam exclaimed, rightfully angry. Castiel laid a hand on Gabriel's shoulder in comfort when Gabriel suddenly stiffened right before the lights flickered out, the bunker now bathed in red emergency lights. Sam and Castiel left the room, checking the warding that looked like it was barely doing its job. It wouldn't be long before they were confronting Asmodeus, and _that_ was sure to go swell. The last of the warding faded as they found themselves in the war room, three demons suddenly upon them. While Sam easily dispatched the first, he struggled against the second who was a moment away from stabbing him with his own blade. Luckily, Castiel managed to burn him out of the vessel, the angel blade now in his grasp. "Thanks," Sam told him as they got their breath back. They exchanged wary looks before Sam spotted Asmodeus above them and he and Castiel were flung into the wall, stunned.

"Your warding wasn't designed to keep the likes of me out, Samuel. I've come to claim what's mine." A pair of demons came into view restraining a frantically struggling, absolutely terrified Gabriel, all signs of their usual archangel turned trickster god long gone. In his state, Gabriel didn't catch much as the mantra of "No, this can't be happening. No! Please!" repeated itself in his head on an endless loop. What he did catch, however, were the words "punishment" and "severely." He shouted in alarm, fear of what was to come overriding all other senses as he was dragged away. "And as for you two…" The demons stopped at the top of the stairs to watch their master finish the job. Flicking his wrists, Asmodeus slowly crushed the internal organs of two of the biggest thorns in his side. As the agonized cries from his brother and his Sam reached his ears, something in him snapped. An uncontainable rage had him snapping painfully aware into the present, and with a furious roar, he tossed his captors over the railings in front of him and down the stairs. **No one** harmed his family on his watch. He stumbled to the railing with a gasp.

"Gabriel! What are you doing, son? You know too well what I can do to you. I broke you!" With a snarl, his eyes glowed electric blue once again, and he made eye contact with his torturer. "You're too weak!" Asmodeus screamed at him. Gabriel stood tall, all injuries seemingly healed, golden wings blinding the other three's eyes as his grace shined and hummed in the air. In frustration, Asmodeus hurled a ball of pure energy towards Gabriel that the archangel easily deflected with ease and a quick shake of his head.

"Not anymore." It was then that Asmodeus knew he was done for. "Oh, by the way… I always hated that dumbass suit." Sam's gaze whipped to Asmodeus, who quite literally went down in flames, Gabriel grinning in satisfaction as the last of the demon's screams rang throughout the bunker. Sam and Castiel felt the force keeping them against the wall lift, both gazing in awe at Gabriel, who made his way down to them. "You have **no** idea how hard I'm resisting making a KFC joke here. I think it literally might be killing me." Sam let out a weak laugh before the conversation became more serious. Sam and Castiel began explaining everything that had happened since Jack had been born: Jack, Mary, the Apocalypse world, Apocalypse world Michael. Suffice it to say, Gabriel was a bit overwhelmed. "Woah. I-Uh-Too much information. Okay, slow down. I'm not… Processing."

"And there's more," Castiel continued. "Michael wants to come to this Earth and destroy it, and we may need your help to fight him." Gabriel gave a wide eyed look of surprise.

"What?"

"Yep," Sam remarked. "Welcome to the team." Gabriel was about a second away from getting up and vanishing, saying thanks, but no thanks. One look at Sam though, and he knew he was hopeless.

"Look, thanks for the rescue and the redemption arc, fellas. Really, I'm grateful, but I'm not on board with this. This Michael you keep talking about? He may be a crazed murdering scumbag, but… He is still my brother, and if he's as powerful as you say he is, I'm not going to be of much use to you, not like this." He gestured to his ragged state. Sighing, he looked upward, thinking, _Why am I doing this, Father?_ "But what's the plan?" Sam gasped, relief evident in his expression.

"For a second, I thought you were going to leave, join the I Hate My Family train and disappear."

"For a second, I wanted to… But I owe you a lot, Sam, and Castiel and I are going to catch up later." Castiel gave him a look that said, "We are?" and Gabriel responded with a look that said, "Just go with it, will you?" Getting to his feet, Gabriel continued, "But first, a shower is in order, then dinner. The sooner I'm out of these rags, the better." Without another word, he disappeared within the bunker, leaving Sam and Castiel behind. Less than a minute later, Dean came hurtling through the Rift, just as it was closing. After a bit of debriefing from both parties ("Yeah. There's a Charlie over there. She kicks ass."), Dean and Castiel settled down in the war room while Sam whipped something up for dinner in the kitchen. Just as the cooking was finished, Gabriel strolled in looking much more comfortable in his own skin. Dean's eyes narrowed and Castiel looked over him worriedly.

"Dean! So… How was your little vacation down in the doomed universe?" Before Dean could snap at him, Sam announced dinner, and they all pulled up chairs at the kitchen table. Dinner was mostly silent, glances exchanged between brothers in between bites. Gabriel seemed strangely uncomfortable, constantly fidgeting against his chair. Castiel regarded him with empathetic eyes while Sam kept shooting him worried looks. After dinner was over and the dishes had been put away, Gabriel immediately disappeared from the room, and Castiel prompted Sam to go after him. He did, and found Gabriel shirtless and twitchy, struggling to reach the top of one of his wings, sitting cross legged in the middle of his bed.

"Um… Do you… Want some help with that?" Sam asked nervously from the doorway. Gabriel looked to him helplessly and meekly nodded. Sam sat behind him, watched the golden wings tremble, and slowly, _slowly_ brushed a hand through the top of a wing. The resulting sensation had both of them gasping, a faint hum of grace in the air, Sam's fingertips tingling. "What-What was that?"

"It takes a special someone to see, much less touch, an angel's wings, especially an archangel's. Do you care about me, Sam?" Gabriel asked rather breathlessly.

"O-Of course," came the shaky reply.

"Then keep going." Sam did just that, watching Gabriel become loose and relaxed, almost purring, really. Sam gently groomed his wings, straightening out feathers, plucking out burnt and bloody ones, and wiping away years worth of soot and ash. When that was done, Sam couldn't help but continue to stroke the now shimmering golden feathers. They were softer than anything he'd ever felt, and if anything came close to a comparison, it would be clouds; Sam bet that clouds had nothing on Gabriel's feathers.

" _S-Sam_ ," Gabriel whispered softly, leaning back towards him as another four wings suddenly appeared, one pair slightly bigger and another slightly smaller than the pair Sam had just groomed. And so, the process started all over again, this time with Gabriel humming contently throughout and Sam feeling as though something had definitely changed between him and the archangel. The hum of grace in the air grew louder, even with Gabriel's depleted amount, but it didn't seem to bother Sam, who had all but melted into Gabriel's wings, reaching the feathers underneath that felt like actual Heaven. Gabriel let out a strangled noise, wing pressing into Sam's hand. The other five wings flapped idly, minutely, so as not to disturb Sam.

Castiel had planned on checking in on Sam, who had been gone quite a while, and cracked the door open to find Gabriel with his head tipped back, eyes closed, wearing a content smile, and Sam, half buried in Gabriel's now pristine wings. Eyes wide, he backed away slowly, closing the door again, straight into Dean, who he immediately shushed before the hunter could ask questions.

It wasn't until Sam found himself waking up to an eyeful of feathers sometime later that he remembered what had been going on. He'd been grooming Gabriel's wings, and it was the most relaxed he'd ever felt in his entire life. The archangel in question hummed happily, and it was only then that Sam realized he was lying right behind Gabriel, one arm half buried in a wing and the other around the archangel's waist. When he went to pull away, Gabriel grabbed his arm, loosely enough that Sam could pull away if he wanted to. " _Stay_ ," Gabriel whispered. Sam was more than happy to comply, though he was not without his questions.

"So I assume the you trusting me to touch your wings means something super important?" Gabriel sat up, Sam moving with him.

"I'll give you three guesses," Gabriel told him. Sam pretended to think for a moment.

"So, we're soulmates." It wasn't even a question, just a 99.9% sure statement that had Gabriel staring in shock.

"How did you-?"

"I feel like I've known you my whole life even though we've only spent time together on a few occasions. I feel like I could trust you with anything and… I'm feeling strangely protective over you right now."

"You don't sound… Angry, or unsettled… Not even surprised?"

"I think surprised is a huge understatement," Sam began with a nervous chuckle. "But… I don't know. I just feel like I've finally found something I've been missing my whole life." Gabriel smiled warmly at him, wings wrapping around him and pulling the two closer together.

"Me too, Sam." Slowly, sweetly, the two met each other for a kiss that stole Sam's breath away. He didn't know where this was headed, but he knew Gabriel would be there with him every step of the way.

Closing A/N: Whelp, that escalated quickly. Plot decided to happen and I couldn't really stop it. Fits with the timeline of the fics though. Expect one more, I _think_ , taking place during episode 20, "Unfinished Business," with more plot. Gabriel wasn't always super open about his wings after all, and I kind of want to build on that. Until next fic! :)


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